Last month, Apple received a fair amount of flak for fudging facts and misquoting rivals during the iPad 2 launch event. However, it seems that Apple is not the only one busy with distorting the truth. Samsung, which has been one of the primary targets of Apple’s reality distortion field, is now trying to return the favor.

Earlier in the week, Samsung unveiled a couple of new Galaxy Tab models at the CTIA the revised Galaxy Tab 10.1â€³, and a new Galaxy Tab 8.9â€³. One of the biggest wow factors of the new Galaxy Tab 10.1” is its sleek design. Omar Khan, Chief Strategy Officer and SVP of Products and Services at Samsung, heralded the new Tab as the slimmest tablet in the market. Samsung claimed that the Tab measures in at 8.6 mm, which is 0.2 mm less than Apple’s iPad. However, in reality, the Galaxy Tab is a tad thicker than the iPad 2. It’s still pretty slim, but not slimmer than the iPad. Have a look at the comparison pictures snapped by Information Week’s Fritz Nelson.

Unfortunately, misleading consumers about the Tab’s thickness wasn’t the biggest folly committed by Samsung. During the press event (embedded below), Samsung spent a fair amount of time on its Galaxy Tab Interview Project. The project purported to document how Galaxy Tab changed the life of busy, successful New Yorkers, who were given an opportunity to try the device. The New Yorkers interviewed included freelance travel writer Joan Hess, independent filmmaker Karl Shefelman, and leading real estate CEO Joseph Kolinksi.

The trouble is that these ordinary New Yorkers were gushing about products that aren’t even available in the stores, and they were showering the Tab with cheesy praises that only a PR guy can come up with. Harry McCracken of Technologizer did some digging around, and soon uncovered the real identities of Hess, Shefelman, and Kolinksi. Yes, all of these people exist, but they aren’t who they claimed to be. Joan Hess and Joseph Kolinksi are professional actors, while Karl Shefelman is a filmmaker who works for a NY production company that has done work for Samsung in the past.

It is immoral to fudge minor details here and there, but lying outright by faking testimonials is simply despicable. It’s the act of a company that is desperate. It’s the act of a company that thinks their customers are foolish. This incident demonstrates that Samsung is willing to do whatever it takes to lure customers, even if that means violating established ethical boundaries. Will you be willing to trust such a company with your hard-earned money?

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Pallab De

Pallab De is a blogger from India who has a soft spot for anything techie. He loves trying out new software and spends most of his day breaking and fixing his PC. Pallab loves participating in the social web; he has been active in technology forums since he was a teenager and is an active user of both twitter (@indyan) and facebook . View all posts by Pallab De

look at the apple ipad 2 ads.. there were dosens of people around the globe using it LOL

its ads.. not real interviews..

http://www.pallab.net Pallab De

There were a lot of savvy people in that room, and pretty much all of them believed them to be real. Using fake documentary style in ads is nothing new. But, this was a press event, and Samsung pretty much said that it had conducted this experiment in NY on March 3rd, and these are the results.

Udit

It’s what many big corps do, some do it less obviously so that people don’t realize they are being provided with mucked up specs or fake testimonials. Some do it stupidly and are caught.

I’m not saying that it’s right, but it happens, Samsung here happened to be unlucky enough to get caught. It’s not just limited to tech either BTW. even drug companies take doctors to provide testimonials and promote their drugs. It’s everywhere, it’s wrong. Samsung did it, got caught but they should not be the only ones to be condemned. The entire world is slowly getting tech savvy *if you just talk about tech* and it’s time the corps. start being more honest. Condemn Samsung, but condemn others too, berate them too, ask them to not take us for fools :)

smokes

heh anyways.. its just publicity..

anyways the tab Owns.. is slimmer and cheaper..

honestly who would’ve expected a cheap tablet after the high priced tablets like xoom/LG with over 800$ and 900$ euro in europe #Fail.